By Harry McCarthy ’13, Staff Writer

I didn’t know what to expect when the opening bars of “Angels,” the first song on The xx’s second LP, Coexist, began to play.  2007’s self-titled masterpiece The xx sounded so unlike anything else I had ever heard before — it was near impossible to predict where the band would go next.  As I listened to Coexist, I discovered that not much has changed, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  The haunting duet of the bands lead singers Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim still flows beautifully through my mind, the light plucking of the synthesized guitars reverberates through my skull the same way they did before.  It’s amazing that even now The xx has managed to create an album that is completely unique to the current music scene just by simply doing the same thing.  There are some differences between Coexist and The xx, and those are entirely because of the trio’s third (and possibly most important) member, Jamie XX.  The R&B influence of Jamie XX’s solo career, which include 2011’s We’re New Here, an amazing collaboration with the late and great Gill Scott Heron, is incredibly apparent on tracks like “Unfold” and “Try”, both of which are the most forward-thinking pieces on the new album.   The xx has stuck to the script, trying to find new inspiration in their old sound. And they have.  Years down the road, the band will look back at Coexist as another key part of their beginning years. However, they have definitely put pressure on themselves for their next LP, which will need to be much more progressive in its sound in order for The xx to preserve the important place they have carved for themselves in music history.

Key Tracks

“Chained”

“Reunion”

“Try”